INTERVIEW

VIEW Interview

INTER A Focus on Excellence

An Interview with Surya Kant, President – North America, U.K. and Europe, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)

How do you defi ne the TCS difference and I would say it works both ways. You have what has been the key to the company’s to be global, because businesses are global strength and leadership? these days, even if some primarily operate in We live in an age where consumers are a one market, so they require a uniform interface segment of one, and they expect nothing less around the world. It is becoming increasingly than a fi rst class, personalized experience. As important as newer technologies like cloud and Surya Kant technologies such as artifi cial intelligence, the AI are evolving and enabling businesses to Internet of Things, analytics and machine learn- become truly global with better control over EDITORS’ NOTE Surya Kant is responsible for ing are becoming more pervasive, this is guid- their data resources. overseeing and strengthening customer rela- ing many of the worlds’ leading businesses At the same time, you fi nd some markets tionships and revenues across markets that through a growth and transformation journey, where customers are a lot closer to technology account for more than 75 percent of TCS’ global using our Business 4.0 framework. or further along in their adoption and digital revenues. He also plays a key role in expand- We are helping to shift the paradigm, from transformation cycles, so you have to adapt ing the company’s range of technology and companies having to optimize with scarce resources based on the specifi c requirements. The key is service offerings. Additionally, Kant is a pas- to now harnessing an abundance of talent, capital, that TCS operates globally and offers enormous sionate supporter of U.S. STEM education and data, and computing resources. This is changing scale and contextual customer knowledge, career initiatives – particularly for women, business behaviors to drive mass personalization, while being deeply embedded in local markets minorities and those in underserved commu- create exponential value, leverage ecosystems and and being a leading local recruiter of talent in nities, through major national partnerships embrace new risks. TCS is redefi ning every aspect providing cutting-edge customer solutions. such as Million Women Mentors and US2020, of its business and that of its customers. How challenging is it to find the tal- and TCS’ signature campaigns, goIT and Ignite At the core of the success is our ability to ent you need to help clients through their My Future in School. He received his bache- be agile, resilient and leverage the contextual transformations? lor’s degree in electrical engineering with a spe- knowledge of a talented, diverse global work- In this industry, talent really plays a huge cialization in electronics from College of force of more than 424,000 employees from 150 part. The number one asset of our company Engineering, and his master’s degree in electri- nationalities around the world. for our customers and partners is really our cal engineering with a specialization in com- Are large global companies the focus people. In that sense, the ability to attract really puter technology from IIT Delhi. for TCS or do you also serve smaller entre- diverse, talented people from across the world preneurial companies? becomes very important. This means that work- COMPANY BRIEF Tata Consultancy Services Both; we primarily work with more than ing with and giving back to the communities is Limited (tcs.com) is a leading IT services, con- a third of the large, established Fortune 500 com- a very big magnate for our diverse workforce sulting and business solutions organization that panies, but also collaborate with emerging, fast- around the world. As you know, giving back is has been partnering with many of the world’s growing start-ups. And if you look at verticals or in our DNA, as 50 percent of our ownership is largest businesses in their transformation jour- industries, we work in banking, fi nancial services, indirectly held by two philanthropic trusts. neys for the past 50 years. With revenues of insurance, retail, manufacturing, travel, transpor- The ability to attract a talented workforce more than $20 billion in 2018, TCS is ranked tation, hospitality, high-tech and communications and to keep them, nurture them and grow as one of the top three most valuable global IT and information services businesses. We work with them, as TCS and our customers grow, is a service providers. Its consulting-led, cogni- both large and small companies because all large very big part of the glue that keeps this com- tive-powered integrated portfolio is delivered companies, at one time, were small companies. pany together. As we work on the Business through its unique location-independent Agile Is a C-Suite relationship critical for the 4.0 growth and transformation journeys of our delivery model, which is a benchmark of excel- work TCS provides and do you work at mul- customers, it becomes important for us to also lence in software development. TCS was recog- tiple layers within your clients? bring in specifi c skills and talents. nized in 2019 as a Global Top Employer by the We start with C-Suite and then we work We are also reskilling our own workforce. Top Employer Institute, and as one of the Best with various levels, because the work that we The whole technological landscape has been Employers globally in the Forbes 2000 list. In the ultimately come up with, the business transfor- changing and becoming far more agile. 50th year of its founding, TCS was ranked the mation models and information technology sys- This includes the whole area of cloud fastest growing brand by value in the IT Services tems that we devise, have to be implemented migration, artifi cial intelligence, machine learn- sector, globally, over the past ten years – growing and reach from the front-end, which is where ing and automation, as well as the area of data 14.4 percent year-on-year. TCS’ proactive stance the customer experience is, to the back-end of analytics and insights. It is very important for us on climate change and award-winning work the company, so we need to work with various to ensure that we continue to reskill our people with communities across the world have earned levels from C level down. as we go through our own transformation to it a place in leading sustainability indices such Is there consistent messaging and strong support the future success of our customers. as the Dow Jones Sustainability™ World Index, cooperation for TCS between the various geo- To accomplish this, we have brought in a the MSCI Global Sustainability Index, and the graphical regions in which you work or is it number of learning systems and transformed FTSE4Good Emerging Index. more of a localized focus? them from a majority of classroom training to 16 LEADERS POSTED WITH PERMISSION. COPYRIGHT © 2019 LEADERS MAGAZINE, LLC VOLUME 42, NUMBER 3 something which is available anywhere, any- skilled talent and be a trusted partner in change so we need to have people with deep areas of time on your mobile or other platforms. This and the upskilling of the global workforce. knowledge across a host of technologies and has been a huge success. We’ve been able to When you grow to the size and scale industries in order to help propel our custom- reskill and upskill over 300,000 of our people that TCS is geographically and in numbers, ers’ Business 4.0 transformations. in a comprehensive range of technologies, plat- is it challenging to maintain an innovative We have also been working with the World forms and agile methodologies. With more than edge and how important is it to have inno- Economic Forum over the past three years on 424,000 people, we’ve come a long way with vation at the heart of the company? issues including the skills gap and have focused our own reskilling efforts, and that is a big rea- It is very important to have innovation at on three major challenges. son for our success. the heart of the company, because we have to Today’s workforce needs to be reskilled. Will you discuss the focus TCS places bring in innovative solutions to more and more Some assessments state as far as 52 percent will on building a diverse and inclusive work- complex problems that we are facing – whether need to be reskilled by 2022. force and the importance of having diverse in business or society. The second is that tomorrow’s workforce thought and experiences when making At TCS, we have our Co-Innovation will need to be trained for jobs that don’t exist business decisions? Network, which looks at innovation as a collab- today. Two thirds of the jobs in 2030 and We recognize that our clients represent orative process. We have our own labs across beyond will be new. That means students who many different industries and collectively serve the U.S. and other geographies, where we work enter primary school today will need to be millions of diverse customers around the world. on new solutions, rapid product prototyping taught by teachers who are aware and confi - We also realize that the technology solutions and advanced research alongside customers. We dent about what those changes will be, and the that we provide must refl ect the global needs also partner with universities like Cornell Tech skills required. and global challenges of our clients. These can and Carnegie Mellon, where we have provided The third relates to inclusion. Women and best be served through a diverse and global large grants to establish centers of excellence minorities will need to be integrated into this workforce, whether that’s diversity of experi- and joint industry-academic research into areas transformation by design, and more than 50 ence, culture or thought process. such as human-machine collaboration, biotech- percent of the disparate impact of technology This year, we celebrated the 50th anniver- nology and autonomous vehicles. adoption currently falls on women and minori- sary of TCS. We crossed the $20 billion mark in ties, which needs to be addressed with scalable revenue and our market capitalization exceeded solutions through industry working alongside $100 billion. More than 165,000 of our global educational and government institutions. 424,000 workforce are women. In our view, How we address these challenges will inclusive businesses are those that transcend determine how society reacts to the shifting the traditional notions of diversity in terms of The number one asset work patterns in business throughout the world. gender or ethnicity and truly bring a diversity We consider this not only a moral obligation, of skillsets, mindsets, experiences and cultures but fundamentally critical to business to ensure to foster innovation. of our company for that we bring all of the stakeholders along with This way, diversity becomes the driver of us on this new journey. business, as people bring unique perspectives our customers and At TCS, we have a three-pronged approach. to the organization which enhances the solu- First, by harnessing our contextual knowledge – tions that we develop, how we develop them re-skilling and up-skilling of our own workforce. and the way we deliver them to our customers. partners is really our The second is preparing young people for 21st In a quickly changing world of work, inclusion century careers, and the third is empowering is the glue that binds people together with a people. In that sense, women, minorities and underserved groups sense of identity, belonging and purpose. through our various educational and mentoring Do you fi nd that those coming into the programs. business are looking for companies that are the ability to attract Our signature goIT and Ignite My Future in not only focused on the bottom line, but are School programs run in North America, and we purpose-driven? run Future IT in Europe and Bridge IT in India. From the founding of the 150 really diverse, talented These programs are very important. years ago, our parent group started as the cus- What has made your experience at TCS todian of public good and calibrated its mis- people from across so special for you? sion to address the world’s most urgent needs. I’ve been very fortunate to work in many Our founder said that in a free enterprise, the geographies and industries, helping our community is not just another stakeholder in the world becomes customers on their path to growth and business but is, in fact, the very purpose of its transformation. existence. very important. TCS also has a big focus on realizing At TCS, which is now 50 years old, we stay employees’ potential. One dimension is pro- true to the Tata Group’s DNA by harnessing fessionally. Another is in the work we do with the power of technology to solve the complex communities. A third is their well-being. For problems and create innovative solutions for instance, we have a program called Fit for Life our customers, employees and the communi- that is run within the company and has more ties where we work and live. The impact of We also have venture capitalists and than 200,000 active participants. our work on society is compounded in several start-ups as part of the Co-Innovation Network. The one thing that has really carried me ways, through the economic value added in We scour the world for appropriate technolo- through my career is TCS’ focus on excellence. these markets as a large employer who provides gies that our customers would fi nd interesting. Whatever you’re doing, you must do it to the highly paid, highly rewarding careers and as a We bring all of these together for the benefi t of best of your abilities and to the highest stan- community leader empowering society to be our customers to help them gain a compara- dards. Where you are today is because of what more equitable and inclusive. tive edge and solve problems that they’re fac- you did yesterday, but where are you going to We have a workforce with an average age ing. Some of those problems could be how they be tomorrow is because of what you are doing of 28 years. At the same time, we also have help the communities where they work and live today. a multigenerational workforce and we have a to fl ourish, so innovation is very important. People cannot rest on their laurels. There global presence and customers across almost How are advanced technologies such is a restlessness in the company – that constant every industry. We are a purpose-driven brand, as AI impacting the workforce? concern that we are doing the best for our cus- which allows us to foster long-term partnerships Technology is certainly having a major tomers, our employees, and our stakeholders. I with our customers, attract and retain highly impact on business and customer experiences, think that is what is so special.• VOLUME 42, NUMBER 3 POSTED WITH PERMISSION. COPYRIGHT © 2019 LEADERS MAGAZINE, LLC LEADERS 17